Audio-Visual Amalgamate

This is the new way we'll share our favorite photos of the year, with musical accompaniment, but due to restrictions I'll have to break it up in pieces. Here's January thru March 2009, all photos taken and music released during those months. Pretty fancy.

Watch it full screen and in high quality so you can count my pores.

Enjoy...

Best Albums Of 2009

When it was all said & done I had 268 albums that I could call "the best music of the year", but I'm not going to list 268 albums. I will do ....(random number off the top of my head) 165. Of those 165 you will probably know zero. I highly recommend that immediately following the reading of this list that you head straight out to your local record merchant and purchase all, some, or at least one of these albums. I will know if you don't.

165) Joe Pernice - It Feels So Good When I Stop
164) Odawas - The Blue Depths
163) Gliss - Devotion Implosion
162) Norah Jones - The Fall
161) UUVVWWZ - s/t
160) Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
159) The Love Language - s/t
158) The Legends - Over And Over
157) Tap Tap - On My Way
156) Miike Snow - s/t
155) Calvin Harris - Ready For The Weekend
154) Inara George - Accidental Experimental
153) Real Estate - s/t
152) The Fiery Furnaces - I'm Going Away
151) Kings Of Convenience - Declaration Of Dependence
150) Pete Doherty - Grace/Wastelands
149) Apostle Of Hustle - Eats Darkness
148) Grooms - Rejoicer
147) Tim Exile - Listening Tree
146) Firekites - The Bowery
145) Cymbals Eat Guitars - Why There Are Mountains
144) Julian Plenti - Is... Skyscraper
143) Ape School - s/t
142) Batrider - Why We Can't Be Friends
141) Simone White - Yakiimo
140) Matthew Halsall - Colour Yes
139) Erin McKeown - Hundreds Of Lions
138) Grammatics - s/t
137) In The Shadow Of The Mountain - s/t
136) Lightning Dust - Infinite Light
135) Nosaj Thing - Drift
134) Mike Bones - A Fool For Everyone
133) Hallelujah The Hills - Colonial Drones
132) Fol Chen - Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made
131) Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band - s/t
130) Jookabox - Dead Zone Boys
129) DD/MM/YYYY - Black Square
128) Grand Archives - Keep In Mind Frankenstein
127) Califone - All My Friends Are Funeral Singers
126) Metric - Fantasies
125) The Show Is The Rainbow - Wet Fist
124) Florence & The Machine - Lungs
123) MV + EE With The Golden Road - Barn Nova
122) Like Bells - s/t
121) Panther - Entropy
120) Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
119) Apse - Climb Up
118) Glass Ghost - Idol Omen
117) A Mountain Of One - Institute Of Joy
116) Vic Chesnutt - At The Cut
115) The Lovely Feathers - Fantasy Of The Lot
114) Wilco - s/t
113) Passion Pit - Manners
112) King Midas Sound - Waiting For You
111) Bowerbirds - Upper Air
110) Islands - Vapours
109) Music Go Music - Expressions
108) The Raveonettes - In And Out Of Control
107) Speck Mountain - Some Sweet Relief
106) Russian Circles - Geneva
105) Hasikara Smile - Elephant Gun
104) Castanets - Texas Rose, The Thaw & The Beasts
103) Kid Harpoon - Once
102) Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - Up From Below
101) Kenneth Pattengale - Speak!
100) The Wilderness Of Manitoba - Hymsn Of Love & Spirits
99) Mimicking Birds - s/t
98) Dodos - Time To Die
97) Antony & The Johnsons - The Crying Light
96) Dawes - North Hills
95) Bear In Heaven - Beast Rest Forth Mouth
94) Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young
93) Alcoholic Faith Mission - 421 Wythe Avenue
92) Doveman - The Conformist
91) Magneta Lane - Gambling With God
90) Sufjan Stevens - The BQE
89) Early Days Miners - The Treatment
88) Shout Out Out Out Out - Reintegration Time
87) CFCF - Continent
86) Shannon Wright - Honeybee Girls
85) Idlewild - Post Electric Blues
84) Molina & Johnson - s/t
83) Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Solar Gambling
82) Harlem Shakes - Technicolor Health
81) A Camp - Colonia
80) Lisandro Aristumuño - Las Crónicas Del Viento
79) Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
78) Sweet Trip - You Will Never Know Why
77) Beads - s/t
76) Zak Sally - Fear Of Song
75) Eau Claire Memorial Jazz I * Justin Vernon - A Decade With Duke
74) Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
73) Foreign Born - Person To Person
72) Cryptacize - Mythomania
71) tUnE-YaRdS - BiRd-BrAiNs
70) Sleepy Sun - Embrace
69) Nurses - Apple's Acres
68) Deastro - Moondagger
67) Built To Spill - There Is No Enemy
66) The Bird And The Bee - Ray Guns Are Not Just The Future
65) Clark - Totems Flare
64) The Maccabees - Wall Of Arms
63) Fool's Gold - s/t
62) jj - jj no˚2
61) Dead Man's Bones - s/t
60) Camera Obscura - My Maudlin Career
59) James Blackshaw - The Glass Bead Game
58) The Voluntary Butler Scheme - At Breakfast, Dinner, Tea
57) Atlas Sound - Logos
56) Candy Claws - In The Dream Of The Sea Life
55) Tortoise - Beacons Of Ancestorship
54) Reverie Sound Revue - s/t
53) Zoos Of Berlin - Taxis
52) Extra Golden - Thank You Very Quickly
51) Vetiver - Tight Knit
50) Shannon Stephens - The Breadwinner
49) Monsters Of Folk - s/t
48) Thao Nguyen - Know Better Learn Faster
47) Local Natives - Gorilla Manor
46) The Horrors - Primary Colors
45) The Swimmers - People Are Soft
44) Mastodon - Crack The Skye
43) Portugal. The Man - The Satanic Satanist
42) White Rabbits - It's Frightening
41) Jogger - This Great Pressure
40) St. Vincent - Actor
39) Jack Peñate - Everything Is New
38) Cass McCombs - Catacombs
37) Language-Arts - Where Were You In The Wild
36) Mew - No More Stories Are Told Today, I'm Sorry, They Washed Away
35) Cougar - Patriot
34) Forest Magic - Is Energy
33) Patients - s/t
32) Peter Bjorn And John - Living Thing
31) fun. - Aim And Ignite
30) Tyondai Braxton - Central Market
29) Devendra Banhart - What Will We Be
28) The Clientele - Bonfires On The Heath
27) Ramona Falls - Intuit
26) The Flaming Lips - Embryonic

The TOP 25 of 2009

25) Volcano Choir - Unmap

24) Boy Crisis - Tulipomania

23) Here We Go Magic - s/t


22) Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project


21) The Big Pink - A Brief History Of Love


20) The Invisible - s/t


19) Hjaltalín - Terminal


18) Timber Timbre - s/t


17) Le Loup - Family


16) Sholi - s/t


15) Chris Garneau - El Radio


14) BLK JKS - After Robots


13) The Long Lost - s/t


12) Wave Machines - Wave If You're Really There


11) Girls - Album


10) Pomegranates - Everybody Come Outside!


9) Akron/Family - Set 'Em Wild, Set 'Em Free


8) The Most Serene Republic - ...And The Ever Expanding Universe


7) Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest


6) Sunset Rubdown - Dragonslayer


5) Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion


4) Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix


3) Wild Beasts - Two Dancers


2) Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle


1) Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

I just switched #1 and #2 on the fly. That's how indecisive I was. If you ask me tomorrow this list could be completely different. Take it for what it is. A list. That's it.

Aural Quarterly. October - December 2009

I have just recently, in the last 24 hours conquered the daunting task of placing this years albums in a nice, neat, hierarchial fashion. That is, according to me anyhow. I will post this list, be it 100 items long or more, hopefully sometime tonight, but it it New Year's eve and I think we're having tater tot casserole for dinner, so who knows what's going to happen. Stay tuned...

Sunny's Always Funny

Best television series of the year has got to be It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Five of the most viciously degenerate riffraff run a bar called Paddy's in Philadelphia. That's the plot. Anything's possible. And after watching that Christmas special I can make it official. Best show of the year.

Need proof?

Why, It's My Tiller Lug-Soles!

These bad boys win the award for my best purchase of the year. I know it seems a little crazy in the year in which we bought a truck, a wii, and actual albums for the first time in 3 years, but these puppies have kept my tootsies clean and dry and pretty warm on all those mornings spent out shoveling the drive and icing the walk scraping the car and lighting the house. You really can't put a price on warm, dry toes. Well Walmart did, but as far as I'm concerned they're priceless.

Can Your Card Say That?

Best ad of the year....



Every time this comes on, for some reason, we're transfixed.

Sometimes the little things in life are the most awesome.

35 Hours To Go

The year's ending, and I think everyone knows it. I had some plans to get things done, cross a few things off the new year's to-do list, but I'm guessing it'll all have to wait. I'll just ride the year out, the whole day and a half that's left of it, spend some quality time with my playlist of this years best music and try to assemble them in some kind of order, which will be a joke, but it must be done.

Laura gets home around 6 and I'm guessing tonight will consist of some Wii, a nice salad and maybe room cleaning, but probably cozying up on the couch and taking in as much Office & Sunny In Philadelphia as humanly possible.

Got Dad & Mom & Tyler & Melissa coming over New Year's Day, just gonna sit around and eat and watch football. That's how we do. The menu is coming along, but we'll probably be having to run out last minute for sour cream or something dumb. That also means they'll be bringing over their dogs, which means the cats hide in our bedroom. All of them. They each have their own hiding spot.

Mom & Dad are staying over Friday night and we're gonna do who-knows-what on Saturday, although the weather channel says we'll be snowed in and frozen. Maybe we'll just watch TV all day and I can have my father show me how to fix the washing machine & the fuse box. Maybe we'll teach them how to play Shut the Box. Bring your singles. Maybe we'll play Call of Duty. That'd be pretty awesome, a little modern warfare with Moms & Pops. I guess we should figure out how to play it first. Maybe tonight.

Oh! And her cough was all but extinct last night, so somebody finally got a goodnight's sleep. Good thing. Good things.

Expect some posts concerning all things "best of the year". And expect to learn something.

Juicy Fuji

I just ate the biggest, juiciest apple ever

Now Near New Years

Well, Christmas has come & gone. We have been enjoying our gifts and gadgets thoroughly. One came in the mail yesterday.

I guess Christmas isn't over yet. There's a few more things en route.

But we're pretty much back to the ol' routine. The new year is coming and I can't help but feel like it's gonna refresh us a little. We got some plans for 2010 ya see. Little things here and there. Maybe a road trip, maybe an air trip. Maybe a new driveway. Maybe a bunch of zero balances on credit cards. Maybe all of it. Maybe none. It's all very exciting. I can't wait to see what happens. I do know we are gonna eat healthier this year. We've already started...

Plus we got out new Wii to help us along. According to the Wii I am obese and Laura is 62, so we've got some work to do. And I suck at balancing on an iceberg and catching fish in my mouth while dressed as a penguin so.....

We got plans for the house too. Like this little nugget I drew up last night.

I saw it on some While You Were Out or Trading Spaces episode a bunch of years back and never got it out of my head. Now I want one.

But mainly I think we plan to take the year's end in with a quiet smile. Relaxing around the house, cooking from one of the four cookbooks we got for Christmas, or just playing Shut the Box for jordan almonds. It's our favorite new game, besides Mario Kart, but that's not really new is it?

And a game that Laura cannot cheat at, therefore she has to play fair, therefore she loses. Every so often.

It was that 6th round where she got a whopping 125,789 points. The idea is to get the lowest score. That didn't help. And cats have been enjoying the new cushions we got for the dining room chairs more than we have, but our warm butts appreciate them on those chilly mornings that are soon coming.

Whatever it is that 2010 brings, I'm sure it's gonna be amazing. Why wouldn't it be?

I'm out of turkey.

Daaaayyyyyyuuuummmm

I bet a lot of amazing things have happened in the backseat of a car.

That sounded dirty.

GiantSuck

Well that's that. They had a chance. A slim one, yes, but a chance is a chance. It was over before it started really. The first drive looked pretty, then the Giants did what they do in the red zone; not score. A touchdown pass taken away by a stupid holding penalty, followed by a great reception by Manningham only to fumble and have it recovered by Carolina, and the wind was taken out, never to return. I think it can be found lingering somewhere over Lucas Oil Field where at least one team that plays in NJ can show up when it matters. So now I can't even watch the last game of the season because #1 it doesn't matter, and #2 I can't stand watching Brett Favre take them apart like he inevitably will.

All this and that's how we'll remember Giants Stadium. Today they, Eli Manning & Tom Coughlin apologized. Not accepted.

Mixtape> 12.18 thru 12.27

It's The Way I See Everything I Need

1. Ape School - It's Over
2. Pawa Up First - Territorio
3. Slow Club - It Doesn't Have To Be Beautiful
4. White Denim - Regina Holding Hands
5. Jets Overhead - Sure Sign
6. The Clientele - I Wonder Who We Are
7. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes - Carries On
8. Candy Claws - Flashy Storm
9. Kid Harpoon - Back From Beyond
10. Russian Circles - Philos
11. Deastro - Daniel Johnston Was Stabbed In The Heart With The Moondagger By The King Of Darkness And His Ghost Is Writing This Song As A Warning To All Of Us
12. Local Natives - Cubism Dream
13. deVries - Should To Shoulder
14. Pete Doherty - Last of The English Roses
15. Eau Claire Memorial Jazz I & Justin Vernon - Bewitched
16. Hjaltalín - Water Poured In Wine
17. Mimicking Birds - The Loop
18. The Milk & Honey Band - Incredible Visions
19. Miike Snow - Song For No One
20. King Khan & BBQ Show - Invisible Girl
    
21. Batrider - Tiadn
22. Ramona Falls - Going Once, Going Twice
23. Passion Pit - Little Secrets
24. Cougar - Appomattox
25. Boat Beam - Session Cats
26. Erik Enocksson - Haec Silva Odi
27. Epic45 - England Fallen Over
28. Faunts - Out On A Limb
29. Grass Widow - To Where
30. Aleks And The Ramps - Antique Limb
31. Grand Archives - Topsy's Revenge
32. Metavari - Maedchen
33. Omar Rodriguez-Lopez - Mundo De Ciegos
34. Zak Sally - How I Did What I Did When I Did It
35. Forest Magic - Return/Stroll

This will probably be my last mixtape, posted here anyhow. I realize none of you read them, and that's okay. It's not like getting to hear these little pieces of audio heaven. It's like reading a recipe really. Words don't taste good. Nor do they sound.

I'll let ya know where they go.... case you felt the need.